Environmental Modifications and Alternatives Before Physical Restraint by Nurses

Physical restraint alternatives can be considered as any strategy or method that is used to keep the person safe without resorting to a device or material that would limit the person’s physical freedom. The main aim of the study is to assess performance of nurses toward environmental modifications and alternatives before physical restraint. A descriptive  study design  is carried out at Baqubah Teaching  Hospital in critical care unit, from 7th October, 2023 to 22th April , 2024. The instruments were constructed by the researcher for the purpose of the study. Fifty nurses, who were selected by a non-probability (convenient) sampling method. Validity of the study instrument was determined through a panel of experts and reliability of the instrument was determined through Cronbach's Alpha method. The analysis of the data used was descriptive statistics and statistical inferential, in order to find the differences in the study group. The study findings indicate mean of score about environmental modifications and alternatives before physical restraint 1.12 in overall domains regarding. The study concludes most of the nurses’  have unsatisfactory performance concerning environmental modifications and alternatives physical restraining at critical care patients, with subsequent reductions in the frequency of related complications among these patients. The researcher recommends that development of local policies for physical restraint use including detailed descriptions of conditions requiring its use is mandatory regarding the use of environmental modifications and alternatives of  physical restraint would have added value to the results.